Achilles injury forces Tiger out of Cadillac Championship... four weeks before Masters

Tiger Woods could miss the Masters for the first time in his professional career after pulling out of the WGC Cadillac Championship with an achilles injury.

On a dramatic afternoon at Doral that saw Justin Rose become the first European to win this prestigious title and claim the biggest win of his career, Woods's sad plight made for a vivid contrast with the Englishman's joy.

The 36 year old American felt some tightness in his left achilles during his warm-up for the final round but decided to play though the pain until it got progressively worse. After driving off from the 12th tee, he called for a buggy and was taken back to the clubhouse.

Sharp exit: Woods is driven away on on a buggy fro the 12th tee

Within five minutes, he was driving off the Doral property in a black Mercedes, leaving behind a multitude of questions. Chief among them, of course, is whether he has any chance of being fit for the Masters in less than a month's time.

'I felt tightness in my left achilles when warming up this morning,' Woods said in a statement later.

'It felt progressively worse throughout the day. After hitting my tee shot at 12 I decided it was necessary to withdraw.

'In the past I may have tried to continue to play, but this time I decided to do what I thought was necessary.

Easy, Tiger: Woods has pulled out of the event in Miami

'I will get my achilles evaluated some time early next week.'

There will be some relief in the
Woods camp that it was his achilles rather than his troublesome left
knee that caused this withdrawal. If the knee had gone again, after four
operations already, it might have been the end of his career.

Woods limped off the course in similar
fashion at the Players Championship last May, and was out for three
months while the left knee and achilles were repaired.

The latter was not operated on, just left to heal of its own accord. If the injury is a similar one this time, it would clearly be a gamble to turn up at Augusta, which starts on April 5.

It never rains, but it pours: Woods stays dry, but then has to pull out on the 12th tee

When he came back last August, Woods
confidently declared his problems to be a thing of the past, and proved
as much as he rededicated himself to the game. He said it was the first
time in a decade that he had been able to practice free of pain.

In recent weeks it looked as if it
was all paying off, with his driving transformed and his short game
getting sharper almost by the tournament.

Everything appeared to be proceeding so
smoothly towards the Masters – a tournament that, for all his injury
problems, he has never missed – that Graeme McDowell was moved to
describe him on Saturday night as the favourite.

On the drive: Woods is now in a race to be fit for the Masters in Augusta

What a difference a week makes. The
previous Sunday Tiger looked as if he was almost back to his best,
closing with a fabulous 62 to finish runner-up behind McIlroy in the
Honda Classic. Now he appears destined for another spell on the
sidelines.

Woods hasn't won a major since the
2008 U.S Open, where his left leg was so damaged by the end he had to
have cruciate ligament surgery and an operation for a fractured tibia.

He
was out for eight months. With 14 majors, Woods is still four shy of
Jack Nicklaus's all-time record of 18, and that looks a long way off
right now.

Forgotten hero? Aside from the drama surrounding Woods, Rose took the trophy